5.1.23 Set 'Suppress hyperlink warnings' to 'Disabled'

Information

This policy setting controls whether Office 2010 applications notify users about unsafe
hyperlinks. Links that Office 2010 considers unsafe include links to executable files, TIFF
files, and Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) files. Other unsafe links are those that use
protocols considered to be unsafe such as javascript. If you enable this policy setting,
unsafe hyperlink warnings are suppressed for all users. If you disable or do not configure
this policy setting, hyperlink warnings cannot be suppressed by any means. Office 2010
users will be notified that links are unsafe and must enable them manually to use them. The
recommended state for this setting is- Disabled.

*Rationale*

Unsafe hyperlinks are links that might pose a security risk if users click them. Clicking an
unsafe link could compromise the security of sensitive information or harm the computer.
Links that Office 2010 considers unsafe include links to executable files, TIFF files, and
Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) files. Other unsafe links are those that use protocols
considered to be unsafe, including msn, nntp, mms, outlook, and stssync. By default, Office
2010 applications notify users about unsafe hyperlinks and disable them until users enable
them.

Solution

To implement the recommended configuration state, set the following Group Policy setting
to Disabled.

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2010\Security
Settings\Suppress hyperlink warnings

Impact-This setting does not alter the default configuration and therefore is unlikely to provide any
usability concerns.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/530

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY

References: 800-53|SI-3c.1.

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 562543a65980bafaa49ce0190fe4fe2374862c35fdf6fe55562e3f994c092871